The class is having a break and he has fifty cents amongst his pockets. For next week he's to read a story by a really stellar writer and the first line (of it) grabs him so he decides to read it on the Elevator. But first he goes to the bathroom. Another person from the class is in there already, a guy who apparently writes like a mixture of Hemingway and Joyce. He wouldn't know, he hasn't read much of either.

He frowns because he likes to have bathrooms to himself so he can fart or pick his nose or sing. He walks to the last stall, the big one, (the one for handicapped men) his favorite, folding the story under his arm. He pees, reading the same graffiti he's read there before. He turns around.

There's a floor length mirror opposite his stall. He looks at himself in it- he is dressed in jeans and a joyous festive springtime shirt. It is fall. He walks to the mirror, noticing blemishes on his forehead. He has been eating chocolate a lot lately because it has chemicals in it that make him happy. He doesn't know that. He washes his hands and leaves.

He walks down the hall, reading. It's a good story. It's about a man who wants to sell his heart. The writer is Australian. When he gets to the Elevator, the door opens automatically (all by itself). A fluke. He steps inside and presses 'B'. Sometimes he is absent minded. Where he works he sometimes takes the Elevator to the basement there to buy a coke. Once he stepped in but didn't press any buttons. It was one of those Elevators that always returns to the lowest level on its own, which it did, and stopped. But he didn't notice, because he was reading something then too, a book. When he finally realized it (that he had not pushed any buttons), he pressed 'B' and the door opened immediately. And he was like, "whoa." But this is a different Elevator, and besides, he remembers.

When the door opens he steps out and walks around the corner to the vending machines. The Australian is there. They joke about mineral water. He finds a quarter in his pocket, and a nickel. While they are still chatting away he puts the nickel back and finger-searches for the other quarter. He pulls out the nickel again. More talk- the Australian is very witty. He pulls out a coin, plops it in the machine, realizes at the last second it was the nickel. He finally figures out as he presses the coin release lever that what his fingers had been doing was feeling for a quarter, feeling a dime, assuming it was the nickel, feeling a larger coin, this was the nickel, but he was thinking it was the quarter.

He tells the Australian writer that he likes his story so far but that he has to return to the classroom where his coat is to get more coins. The Australian writer offers him coins but he decides not to (accept them), explaining that it will give him a chance to read more of the story.

It's a really good story.

He walks back to the hallway and again the Elevator door opens automatically. Wow. He gets in and continues to read. Lately he's been riding Elevators more often since he's been kind of tired and slow. Weird people get on Elevators and he gets a bit chagrined sometimes the way they stand at the door waiting to get on, and then they get on before he has a chance to get off. But his fiction writing class is at night so this Elevator ride has neither co-riders nor cab-crashers.

At the top he gets out and walks back down the hall. His nose itches so he pulls out his handkerchief, crushing the story against his face as he tries to blow his nose. But it's a clean blow. He tucks the handkerchief back into his pocket, and walks on, reading.

He's pretty good at using his peripheral vision to dodge legs as he continues reading. Back at his chair he finds his coat and rifles it for coins- he discovers the dime he knew was there. He walks out, really getting into the story. There are a few other night classes in the building, and the students from them are just getting out. But none are near the Elevator. He walks to it, for a moment paying more attention over the tops of his glasses to the door than to the story. Just he gets there, the doors open. Hey.

He steps in once more and presses 'B' again and descends. Once in an Elevator he decided to see if he could makes his keys fall slower. Over and over he tosses his big bunch of keys into the air and watches carefully as they dropped. He can see no difference. Later he realizes he tried the same experiment as a child, but with jumping instead of keys. It didn't worked then, either.

At the bottom he moves over to the machines and gets his change A nickel, two dimes, and a quarter. In that order they go into the slot, a quick push on the plastic button, ka-chunk, cold can of coke. Although he's been eating chocolate lately, he's not reached the level with that that he's at with coke. Which is itself neither higher nor lower than usual. Some would say and he himself believes that since he doesn't smoke, drink, do drugs, or dance that caffeine is his addiction. But it's not true- he likes the taste.

He walks back to the hallway and now he is paying no attention to the story, he's just looking at the Elevator. When he gets there, nothing happens. Neither Elevators' door opens. The hallway is subdued and darkish and the Elevators are in shadows. He shrugs and presses the button and immediately both doors open with a loud ka-chunk noise and light spills out of them both. Wow. Neat. He decides to ride the Elevator he's been riding, and steps in. He presses the '4' and as the door closes he sees that the light from the other Elevator is fading, meaning it's door is closing too. He rides up, reading.

At the top, (as he gets out, the door to the other Elevator opens. Huh.) he walks back to class. The can in his hand is very cold but not enough to distract him. He gets to his seat and sits and opens his coke. He sips. It's really good.

He finishes the story, and all he can think is he wishes he could write great stuff like that.